


What the Books Never Tell You

by MissCordayLewis



Category: E.R.
Genre: F/F, Friendship, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-05
Updated: 2012-07-05
Packaged: 2017-11-09 06:04:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/452165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissCordayLewis/pseuds/MissCordayLewis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are things those books never tell anyone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What the Books Never Tell You

**Author's Note:**

> Set during Season 10, particularly the episode "Get Carter". Pretty quick piece of work.

All the books said that morning sickness was a common occurrence, typically experienced in the first trimester of pregnancy. Perfectly normal, nothing to worry about, they said.

But they didn’t say anything about noon, afternoon and night sickness. Guess they left that part out when they printed the book. Some women were lucky enough to escape this particular symptom.

Unfortunately, Susan wasn’t on that list.

That cream cheese bagel and decaf she had that morning? Now an offering to the porcelain vessel situated on the corner stall of the women’s bathroom. She heaved and retched until nothing spewed out of her mouth and slowly lifted herself back up, still gripping to the sides of the toilet. Her heart leaped several feet out of her chest when she revealed Elizabeth standing in front of her upon opening the stall door. “Oh my God, Elizabeth. Didn’t see you come in. Sorry you had to hear me puke my guts out.”

“It’s all right. I’ve had a few of those moments myself when I was pregnant with Ella.”

Susan approached the sink and took a good look of herself in front of the mirror. A tint of pale green coloured her usual rosy complexion, the bags under her eyes even more visible from the fluorescent light. _“They said pregnant women have some sort of glow on them. They didn’t say anything about looking like hell.”_

Elizabeth emerged from the stall moments later, walking to the sink beside Susan. “How far along are you now?”

“Ten weeks. They said that the baby is only the size of a dime, but I can’t even zip my usual pants.” Susan said, showing off her green scrubs. “I can’t even hook my bra!”

As if on cue, Elizabeth looked down on the sweater Susan’s wearing and smiled upon noticing how tight it was up top before looking back up. "Don't forget the fatigue, the urge to urinate every couple of minutes, the cravings..."

"Pretty much knew I was in for a ride when I started spreading yogurt on my hamburgers.", Susan said, after which the surgeon stared at her with her mouth gaping open. "Stop looking at me like that."

"I can't help it. The cravings I had were normal compared to that. Inclination to sweets, aversion to Indian food, which I normally love...", Elizabeth said. “Also, imagine working in a trauma while your stomach’s doing somersaults. The blood, the gore...”

Susan covered her mouth upon visualising the image on her mind, attempting to ride off the queasiness rushing towards her once more. “Don’t…start with that. I just saw a man with gangrene on his toe before this.”

She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths on her spot before opening them again, causing Elizabeth to look at her in concern. “Are you sure you can go back to work feeling that way?”

“I’ll try to sleep in the on-call room and see if it helps things.” Susan said as she walked to the exit.

“All right. Just page me if you need anything.”

A couple of hours have passed, and the general sick feeling hadn’t gone away as fast as she hoped. Her stomach still churned, and her head throbbed in time with her heartbeat. She was about to walk to admit and ask someone to cover for her when she discovered a can of ginger ale and a pack of soda crackers on the table beside her. Susan peeled the Post-It that came along, which read, in a familiar handwriting,

**_Hi Susan, I know you’re still feeling sick so here’s some ginger ale and crackers to help you a bit. It helped me when I had Ella, so I hope it works for you. Hope you feel better soon. –Elizabeth_ **

Susan mustered a tiny smile upon reading Elizabeth’s note - showing her one thing the pregnancy books never tell anyone about.


End file.
